Navajo Nation Church Rock Uranium Mining Disaster SPECIAL

Published: July 17, 2019, 7:20 p.m.

Full-length interview with Chris Shuey, Director of the Uranium Impact Assessment Program for Southwest Research and Information Service (SRIC.org). He has worked with Navajo Nation communities on uranium mining issues for 38 years. Chris has helped document the persistent impact of the 1979 uranium tailings pond disaster, which dumped 94 million gallons of highly acidic radioactive waste into the Puerco River and traveled beyond Sanders, Arizona. In this special extended interview, he goes over the resulting degradation of the water, land, and health on Navajo Nation, as well as cultural issues that make the People unwilling to leave their ancestral lands, no matter how contaminated.